Joshua Victor is my first and middle name. I was named after Joshua in the Old Testament, who was a Victor in his own right, leading the Children of Israel into the promised Land. But this Joshua was a foreshadowing of the New and Greater Joshua, who would be the Victor over sin, death, and the devil, and would lead the New Children of Israel into the Promised Land of Heaven. This is none other than Jesus Christ, who by His death and resurrection is the True Victor.

Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Sermon on Hebrews 11:17-31, 12:1-3, for the 13th Sunday after Pentecost, "Look to Jesus"

Grace,
mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ, Amen.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses,
let us also lay aside every weight, and ﻿sin which clings so closely, and ﻿let
us run ﻿with endurance the race that is ﻿set before us, 2
looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, ﻿who for the joy that
was set before him endured the cross, despising ﻿the shame, and ﻿is seated at the
right hand of the throne of God. 3 ﻿Consider him who endured
from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or
﻿fainthearted.

Modern
day races are a great example of sportsmanship and athleticism—of fair
competition and achievement. We have a high expectation that athletes in any
sport, and certainly runners as well, will fairly compete to the best of their
ability, without cheating or using performance-enhancing drugs. We expect that
“fair play” means that they wouldn’t stoop to tripping or shoving other runners
to get ahead, but win by honest effort and hard training. We’re greatly
disappointed when we learn that athletes have cheated or “doped up” on steroids
or other substances, and we’re outraged when terrorists bombed the spectators
and runners at the Boston Marathon. Not only was it a gross violation of life, but
an inexplicable act of brutality. It goes without saying that we don’t expect
runners in a race to face willful intent to harm them.

As
Christians, you are running in a race that is set before you. It’s a race run
by faith, and like a marathon, it’s a long haul. Your whole life as a
Christian, you run this race by faith. But this race is not so fair as a
sportsmen-like marathon. This race is not without weights or burdens that are
imposed on us or that we picked up ourselves. Sometimes we carry tremendous
burdens of guilt or shame, unwilling or unable to look to God for forgiveness. Or
we’ve suffered wrongs at the hands of others, and feel unable to escape the damage.
We think our guilt or shame is ours alone to bear, and the only way it could be
lifted is if we suffer enough to make up for our wrongs. Or we consider
ourselves unworthy of God’s help. Or we value self-reliance so much that we’re
too proud to seek God’s help. It would be as though a giant boulder held you
pinned to the ground, and you imagined that it was your duty to lift it, or
someone shouted to you that if you just “believed in yourself” you could do it.
But this would be impossible without the “burden-bearer” Jesus Christ. He is
the One to whom we turn our eyes. The One who beckons the weak and heavy-laden
to come to Him and find rest.

The good
news, or gospel, shows us Jesus Christ in our place, under that burden, that
impossible boulder. And He alone bears its weight to death on the cross, but in
doing so, lifts it from us. He alone takes away our guilt and shame, and brings
us healing from the devastation of sin. Our eyes really must be fixed on Him,
to release our burdens, and the sins that stick to us like a spider web.

Though we
scorn hecklers in an ordinary race, and it’s hard to believe there are those
who would willfully harm those competing in a race; it should not surprise us
that the devil would set sin and temptation before us like traps, or that there
will be people who will mock your faith in Jesus. Or that some may even face
unthinkable persecution for their faith. Were it not for Christ, who forgives
your sins, washes you clean, and sets you free from them—sin would be our
downfall. As it is, we must be watchful, and by constant repentance throw off
that sin that so readily clings to us. The reality is that life isn’t a fair
competition, with a level path and only supporters surrounding us. That’s the
reason the writer to the Hebrews warns us in advance of the challenge of
running by faith.

But
that’s not to say it’s all challenges and discouragement. And we do have a
“great cloud of witnesses” surrounding us, encouraging us and reminding us that
the race can be completed. Those saints of the faith faced vexing situations,
insurmountable challenges, fearsome enemies and unseen futures, sin that would
entangle them—and many times they failed, were weak, or doubtful. Yet each of
them had faith—their eyes also turned to God and Jesus, the author and
perfecter of our faith. They persevered through their trouble, not because they
had clever solutions for their dilemmas, or because they could guarantee God’s
blessings, but because they trusted in the One who could. They believed for a
certainty that God would be faithful in keeping His promises. So does the
runner who is approaching the finish line focus his attention on the spectators
who cheer him on from the side and the finish? No! The runner focuses ahead, to
the goal, the finish line.

In the
same way, the focus of Hebrews 11-12 is not to put those “heroes of faith” on a
pedestal—but rather to fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our
faith. Their faith too, was not turned to themselves, but to God, and the
promised Savior, Jesus Christ. So our encouragement to each other as
Christians, and of true saints in the Bible, should always be “Look to Jesus!
Look to Jesus!” For He ran that race before us and won. This competition, this
race is not won by our strength or training. It’s not only the healthy,
athletic, and strong, or even only the intelligent that are able to compete.
Even the frail grandmother who is no longer able to speak or move, but who
lives by faith, is running in that race. The strength and endurance to finish
the race does not come from within us, but it comes from Jesus, the author and
perfecter of our faith. You could say that Jesus “wrote the book” on the
subject of faith.

And
since He is the authority on matters
of faith, we should confidently take His Word on all matters of faith. So just
surveying the Gospels for a moment, what do you think Jesus taught faith
believes or trusts? It believes in Him that He can heal, forgive, clothe us,
protect us, move mountains, answer prayers, remove our unbelief. It believes
that He rose from the dead, faith believes and is baptized for salvation,
believes Christ’s Word, in the fulfillment of God’s promises. Faith believes in
Jesus’ name, believes in Him for eternal life, believes that He is sent by God
the Father, that He is the Holy One of God, it believes that Jesus is the
Christ, the Son of God, and by believing has life in His name. And again and
again, throughout the Gospel of John, and the other Gospels as well—faith
simply believes in Him, in Jesus. It’s a solid trust in the One who is able to
do all these things.

Faith
doesn’t get these things because we can supply them, but because God can. A
Christian professor gives the analogy of an antenna, to faith. An antenna
doesn’t do anything, it doesn’t produce the signal that makes your TV or radio
work, but it simply receives. But you can’t get the signal without an antenna.
In the same way, God’s blessings come to us by faith, and we simply receive
them—not by our power or strength. And not only that, but God installed that
“faith antenna” to begin with, so that everything, even our “reception” is
God’s free gift by grace. Faith “tunes in” to the promise and relies on God to
supply.

Faith is
that sure confidence in what we hope for, and that certainty in what is unseen.
Faith looks at what God can do, not at what we can do. And looking to Jesus, we
not only have the author of our faith, but also the perfecter of our faith.
Jesus who ran the race before us, and by perfect obedience to the Father,
secured the whole “prize” for us. It’s not a race we win by moving ourselves by
our strength, to the finish line. But it’s a race of dependence on Jesus, won
by believing in Him, and following His call. And if ever a race were filled
with obstacles, burdens, unfairness, and hostility—it was not our race, but the
race Jesus ran. With our sins weighing Him down, with “hecklers” who scorned
the faith, assailed Christ’s ways, Jesus was mocked and nailed to a cross. With
open hostility and willful intent to harm, Jesus was put to death. But faith
sees through that appearance of Christ being a helpless, innocent victim—and
hears Christ’s side of the story instead.

And as
Scripture tells it, and Jesus tells it—it’s no “pity me” story about how Jesus
was an unfair victim. But it’s a story of tremendous sacrifice and great
willingness to undergo tremendous personal cost to Himself, out of love for us.
It’s the story of Jesus “for the joy set before Him” enduring the cross and
despising its shame. It’s a true race of triumph and glory, hidden underneath
the shame and infamy of the cross. That Jesus willingly laid down His life for
us, and bore the suffering without complaint or bitterness, for the joy of
accomplishing the Father’s will, making us righteous—forgiven—by His sacrifice.
Though it’s a very pale comparison to what Christ accomplished, we could think
of the athletes who played through great pain and injury to lead their team to
victory, and barely gave thought to the suffering, for the sake of the ultimate
prize. To an infinitely greater
degree, Jesus paid the price so He could win us the prize. And it was to His
Father’s glory, and to our eternal benefit—not self-glorification. He won His
prize for all of us who follow Him and finish the race after. No one who
finishes the race in Christ will be left out of His joy and salvation.

Because
He is the author and perfecter of our faith, and we can look to Him, we can
take courage and be refreshed when we grow weary or fainthearted. We can have
faith He will carry us to the finish line. Countless obstacles may lie in our
path, to turn us away from God’s plan—if we don’t have faith in Him. Had
Abraham disobeyed the test to offer up Isaac, he would’ve demonstrated his
faithlessness in God, and wouldn’t have seen how God was going to provide a
substitute. Had Moses’ parents not had faith, they would’ve despaired of rescue
for their son or cowered in fear at the Pharaoh’s wicked commands. Had Moses
not had faith, he would’ve stayed in the safety and luxury of Egypt’s palaces,
and scorned the suffering of his people instead. Without faith, the Israelites
would not have dared to cross the Red Sea, but instead would’ve resigned
themselves to recapture by Egypt. Without faith we could easily surrender
ourselves to seemingly impossible circumstances, and think that God can’t save
us or deliver us.

But with
faith, we look to the One who delivered all these saints of old, and who
continues to deliver His people. With faith, we see Jesus run the most
challenging and unfair race, and die in the most despairing situation, when all
hope seemed beyond lost. But we see that He did it for us, for the forgiveness
of our sins. We see that far from being a defeat, this was in fact Christ’s
sacrifice and victory for us, to secure us the heavenly prize. We see that by
faith, His prize is ours as well. When your way becomes weary, or your heart
grows weak—there’s no substitute but to look to Jesus. It is this faith alone,
that is well founded and that will carry us through this life to Jesus, our
eternal reward. Faith looks to Jesus and receives the promise, in His name,
Amen.

Sermon Talking Points

Read past sermons at: http://thejoshuavictortheory.blogspot.com

Listen to audio at: http://thejoshuavictortheory.podbean.com

Refer back to
Hebrews 11:1 for the definition of faith. Review each of the saints named
in Hebrews 11:17ff. What unseen promise or blessings did they each look
forward to?

In what ways
were those promises at odds with the external situations they found
themselves in? Describe in each situation, what they might have done
instead, if they had not had
faith. How does this demonstrate that faith is the cause and our works are the effect? In this way, the works are the visible proof that
faith exist.

Why is faith
not turned inward, to ourselves or our heart or our abilities (i.e.
“navel-gazing”)? Why is faith not direct at the saints, like Abraham, Joseph, and Moses? Where is the
true object of our faith, as well as theirs? Hebrews 12:2.

What hardships
and sufferings will faith encounter? Hebrews 11:32-12:4; Matthew 5:10-12.
How does faith endure it? By looking to whom?

When faith
looks to Jesus, what blessings does it receive? Matthew 6:30; 21:22; Mark
9:23-24; John 1:12; 3:16; 20:31.

Consider the
analogy of faith being like an antenna. In what way does this parallel the
sending and receiving of God’s promises? Does the antenna produce the
signal? Is it necessary to receive “the signal?” Who “installed” the
antenna, by which we passively receive God’s works for us? Ephesian 2:8-9;
Romans 10:17.

What weights,
what entangling sins, what obstacles stand in your way of “running the
race set before you?” What promises of God can you rely on to cast off
those hindrances?